Slater-Price’s departure from county board is well-timed

Twenty years and one month ago, Pam Slater was sworn in as a county supervisor, a month before an official ceremony that would also include newly elected Dianne Jacob.

The gun had to be jumped because Susan Golding, the 3rd District supervisor Slater was replacing, had left early to take over as the mayor of San Diego.

Slater’s big day, however, did not go like clockwork.

The battery of her car died on Interstate 5, making her an hour late.

“If it could go wrong today, it did,” Slater told the standing O audience when she finally arrived.

On Monday, Pam Slater-Price’s exit from office went off like a fine Swiss watch. At 12:52 p.m., Dave Roberts, 51, took the oath of office in an overflowing conference room at the county’s new operations center.

Slater-Price wore an elegant black St. John’s knit — and a high-beam smile.

“I am the first new supervisor in 18 years, the first of that next generation of county supervisors,” Roberts told the over-the-moon crowd of supporters, a group of them wearing the campaign’s signature purple.

Roberts took the oath with his left hand on a 45-year-old Bible, given to him in third grade. His family — husband Wally Oliver and five adopted children, four boys and a girl, ages 4 to 17 — bore proud witness.

For “Daddy Dave,” the days of regular trips to Washington are over. He’ll be close to his Solana Beach “Leave It to Beaver” home once owned by the late Patti Page.

How different this rite of passage would have been if Steve Danon, who barely lost to Roberts in November, had prevailed.

Slater-Price would have been in Europe with husband Hershell Price.

I can’t think of any politician who has spent more personal capital to assure that her chosen successor won her seat. The supervisor fought like a tigress in stilettos for her man.

For starters, she endorsed Democrat Roberts over longtime Del Mar friend, Republican Carl Hilliard. She never missed an opportunity to bash the GOP-backed Danon, predicting that his election would be a nightmare right out of a Stephen King novel.

A culturally liberal Republican, she went all in for a Democrat who’d left the Republican Party years ago for its dark view of his sexual orientation.

In his speech, Roberts freely acknowledged Slater-Price’s decisive influence on his campaign. “I would not be standing here today if it were not for the courage and vision of former Supervisor Slater-Price,” he said.

Slater-Price’s legacy issues — the arts and the environment — are his causes as well, he pledges.

To the surprise of no one, Roberts is retaining John Weil, Slater-Price’s chief of staff, as well as three other key Slater-Price team members.

For going on two decades, supervisors have ruled like Republican overlords, swatting away challengers like gnats. But the end of the dynasty is near.

Thanks to union-backed term limits, passed two years ago, Roberts is the first supervisor ever elected whose days in office are legally numbered at 2,920 (assuming he’s re-elected in 2016). Both Jacob and Supervisor Greg Cox, who were also sworn in Monday, have another term if they so choose.

Looking ahead, 2014 will be a bellwether year.

Supervisors Bill Horn and Ron Roberts will be up for re-election. The knives will be out.

The question is whether Horn and Ron Roberts will walk away, fight for one last term or, like Slater-Price, split the difference, retiring but fighting for their political successors.

For the last 18 years, North County has had the ultimate odd couple representing the region.

Though both Republicans, Slater-Price and Horn are the political yin and yang of North County — property rights champion vs. environmental champion; cool organic salad vs. hot-sauce barbecue; Jimmy Choos vs. cowboy boots.

With Dave Roberts, the ideological, if not the stylistic, dichotomy remains in place.

But in another sense, everything has changed with the election of a second Mr. Roberts.

A gay Democrat who did not graduate from San Diego State is a member of the exclusive club.

To Slater-Price, the best friend a politician ever had, that’s a change that’s right on time.